Bitwig 2.5 beta is out!

[ejgallego]

Santa came early this year:

https://www.bitwig.com/en/18/bitwig-studio-2_5.html

Enjoy!

For Bitwig Studio 2.5, we chose a few select features that were either requested or inspired by our community (that’s you). Some features lean toward performance. Others streamline audio editing. And a few help you find what you need faster. Like a good seasonal gathering, there is a little something for everyone so take a plate and dig in

Highlights:

• Clip blocks
• Audio slide
• New device: Note FX selector
• Better finding, zippier interface
• New sound content: Analog Waves

Changelog:

Beta 7
Improvements

• Add new plug-in hosting modes to sandbox plug-in manufacturers or to keep multiple instances of the same plug-in in the same sandbox
• Update the plug-in preferences to make it clearer how the plug-in hosting modes work
  macOS: some old VST plugins that have both Cocoa and Carbon GUI will now open windows with the more modern Cocoa GUI

Regression Fixes

• macOS: some VST plug-in windows are empty or have shifted content

Beta 6
New features

• macOS: Pinch-zooming using trackpad for zooming in all timeline editors (including Arranger) and in the Sampler waveform display

Improvements

• New mappable shortcuts: "Turn On", "Turn Off" and "Toggle On / Off" to set the bypass state of selected devices
• Plug-in windows better restore their position and size

Fixes

• Plug-in window for Melodyne VST3 could only be opened once
• When hosting plug-ins in the engine process, the engine could leak memory
• Some VST3 plug-ins could crash when being deleted
• Engine crash when connecting to projects that were saved with certain Browser states
• Initial size of "Delete used files" dialog was too small

Regression Fixes

• VST3 plug-ins could receive the wrong transport playback state flags (playing or recording)
• MidiOut.sendMidi() control surface API was broken

Beta 5
Improvements

• Support VST3 parameter default values
• Support VST3 plug-ins dynamically changing their list of parameters at run-time

Fixes

• When showing the popup browser from the device chain '+' button, the browser's width can only be resized on the left side, but should be resizable on the right side instead
• HW Instrument device does not apply selected midi channel to CC automation
• Dragging an audio event to the clip launcher of a grouped track to create a new scene may crash the app
• Activating / deactivating per voice option in modulators is not undoable
• When copying a device to the clipboard and then pasting it again any choices in source selectors are lost (e.g Dynamics device or a plug-in with a side chain input)
• Engine sometimes crashes when moving an automation lane from one clip to another on the clip launcher
• Fixed various issues with VST3 plug-ins that don't strictly follow the spec
• Parameter automation gets smoothed after device wakeup but should jump immediately to the correct value
• Setting sample rate in other applications gets blocked by Bitwig Studio on macOS
• Channel was ignored for MIDI messages sent via MidiOut.sendMidi() control surface API
• Prevent control surfaces from sending MIDI system messages via MidiOut.sendMidi() which is intended for channel messages
• Engine could crash in some rare situations when a plug-in crashed even though it was sandboxed

Regression Fixes

• The transport position inside a plugin may randomly jitter when Bitwig Studio's transport was stopped
• A VST 2 plug-in that incorrectly asks for the VstTimeInfo outside of its audio processing function could potentially crash
• A VST 2 plug-in that incorrectly tries to send MIDI output events outside of its audio processing function could potentially crash
• Several note device not working after reloading project / changing audio engine settings
• Dragging an effect track into a nested track group might crash
• When duplicating a track group the nested groups inside the track group would not get duplicated
• APC40 mkII maximum volume setting was inverted
• Some audio interfaces and aggregate devices were not working correctly on macOS

Beta 4
Improvements

• When entering a textual value for a VST 3 plug-in parameter allow user to enter this in the parameter's actual unit instead of a normalized value 0...1
• Add new DPI aware setting on Windows that decides if Windows will automatically scale plug-ins that are not DPI aware
• Reduce the OS resources we allocate for each plug-in (we no longer allocate a new shared memory area for each plug-in)
• When deactivating a plug-in (either directly or when deactivating its track) unload the plugin
• When using U-he VST 3 plugins also show the h2p preset files in the browser for them and when dragging an h2p file use the VST 3 version instead of VST 2 if it is present

Fixes

• Support io bus and latency changing notifications for plug-ins correctly and fade in/out their audio when this happens
• Regression since beta-2: on macOS some plugin windows look empty when opening the first time
• Crash when sliding content in launcher clip on Windows when "Tablet" or "Master/Detail" display profile is active
• Crash when invoking action to toggle note editor layer locking on layer that can't be locked
• Crash when dragging after double-clicking in velocity editor if the mouse was not moved before second click (to draw linear ramp)

Regression Fixes

• Default preset for a plug-in was not loaded when adding a plug-in
• Reverb device could produce invalid sound in some cases in 2.5 Beta 3
• Some VST 3 plug-ins failed to load that had a side chain input (e.g GHz Volf Compressor 3 and Toneboosters EQ 4)
• Step Mod device was not working anymore

Beta 3
Improvements

• Clarify the next action chooser by adding separators
• Remember which section was expanded in the side panel browser
• APC40 mkII: you can now double tap sends, user and bank button to have them stay on (it was already possible by using shift)
• APC40 mkII: the main track bank is not following the selected track anymore
• APC40 mkII: new option to control the send effect (via device controls) when the send is latched (via shift or double tap)
• APC40 mkII: better indications for sends and pan
• APC40 mkII: shift + track select to configure the default launch quantization
• Extension API v8: add setter for the clip launch quantization and the default quantization setting
• Extension API v8: add clip launch to Q setter
• Clip Launcher: Loop length of recorded Clips should be quantized to bars, not ticks

Fixes

• VST3 on Linux did not remember the size of the plugin window
• Sometimes the track's mute might introduce a click sound
• Automation now repaints correctly when changing timeline tool
• Opening a project that had a file selected in browser and auto preview option enabled would start playback of the selected file when the project was loaded
• Crash when adding a scene after navigating into a group
• Setting an instrument layer chain to solo and deleting it, leaves the rest of the chains muted
• Steps modulator: with high amount of steps, miniature view does not display current step anymore
• Changing sample rate on Apogee's Ensemble Thunderbolt device does not work correctly on macOS (thanks to Apogee for helping out!)
• Potential crash when trying to move audio event in locked layer (audio editor in clip content mode)
• Duplicate Clip function refers to wrong clip length in some cases
• Plug-in windows are not opening on top of main Bitwig Studio window when that is in full-screen mode on macOS

Regression Fixes

• Crash when duplicating notes

Beta 2
Improvements

• The states of Browser panels are saved for projects and templates
• Expanded Browser folders are remembered
• Better categorization of actions in the shortcuts editor
• Shift-clicking a group track's folder icon will expand or collapse all folders at the same level
• Sets VST3 channel information (helps handle how certain plug-ins functions)

Fixes

• Consolidate now continues clipped notes when there are notes on other keys/channels

Regression Fixes

• Bit-8 device: was only outputting one channel when width was set to 100%
• Reversed raw audio events might get shifted when resizing left clip boundary
• Mouse interaction for creating new fades on audio clips/events was obscured

Beta 1
New Features

• Slide-content editing gesture, for shifting the content of clips from the Arranger Panel (and audio events from the Detail Editor Panel)
• Concept of clip blocks, for addressing different groups of Launcher clips with new Next Action options
• New device: Note FX Selector, for setting up multiple note FX layers and dynamically switching between them

Improvements

• Optimizations on Mac, providing much improved application launch time and better overall performance
• When dragging the start or end of Arranger audio clips, contained audio events that overlap are also adjusted
• Changing the tempo of audio events via the clip inspector also resizes the clip
• Follow Playback option is now set locally within each timeline editor panel
• Can now zoom to the current selection by pressing the Z key (pressing it a second time zooms out to the full length of the current editor)
• Zooming in and out is faster in the Arranger Timeline Panel
• When audio files are added to the arrangement as Raw audio, clip length matches the audio file
• When searching in either Browser, closer matches are sorted to the top of the results
• Quicker scanning of plug-ins, including less chance that plug-ins will show dialogs during scanning
• Ability to filter out plug-ins that exist in different versions (by preferring 64 bit over 32 bit, and/or VST 3 over VST 2) in either Browser
• Option to temporarily show filtered plug-ins in either Browser
• Added numerous functions (available as user-defined shortcuts) for navigating and controlling your arrangement
• All selector devices (Instrument Selector, FX Selector, Note FX Selector) now display which layers are currently active and which are suspended
• Record buttons in the Clip Launcher Panel are now shown in red
• AKAI APC40 mkII: added option to "scroll by pages" as default (making "scroll by one track" the option when holding SHIFT)

Fixes

• Clip scaling actions (such as Scale 50% and Scale 200%) also scale the clip's loop bracket and start/stop markers
• Event snapping in the audio editor is improved when snapping to event boundaries
• Sustain pedal data is now properly imported from MIDI files
• MIDI clock is no longer offset when pre-roll is in use
• The note editor was sometimes unavailable after opening a project

[donkong]

Audio slide

[SLiC]

Thank you Bitwig Team, I think your work is being noticed outside of the existing user base....keep it up, heads are turning!

[newtobitwig]

Better finding,zippier interface,wohoo!

[Yokai]

Here's the more explicit list of changes in the first beta cut of 2.5:

What's New in Bitwig Studio 2.5
NEW FEATURES
Slide-content editing gesture, for shifting the content of clips from the Arranger Panel (and audio events from the Detail Editor Panel)
Concept of clip blocks, for addressing different groups of Launcher clips with new Next Action options
New device: Note FX Selector, for setting up multiple note FX layers and dynamically switching between them
IMPROVEMENTS
Optimizations on Mac, providing much improved application launch time and better overall performance
When dragging the start or end of Arranger audio clips, contained audio events that overlap are also adjusted
Changing the tempo of audio events via the clip inspector also resizes the clip
Follow Playback option is now set locally within each timeline editor panel
Can now zoom to the current selection by pressing the Z key (pressing it a second time zooms out to the full length of the current editor)
Zooming in and out is faster in the Arranger Timeline Panel
When audio files are added to the arrangement as Raw audio, clip length matches the audio file
When searching in either Browser, closer matches are sorted to the top of the results
Quicker scanning of plug-ins, including less chance that plug-ins will show dialogs during scanning
Ability to filter out plug-ins that exist in different versions (by preferring 64 bit over 32 bit, and/or VST 3 over VST 2) in either Browser
Option to temporarily show filtered plug-ins in either Browser
Added numerous functions (available as user-defined shortcuts) for navigating and controlling your arrangement
All selector devices (Instrument Selector, FX Selector, Note FX Selector) now display which layers are currently active and which are suspended
Record buttons in the Clip Launcher Panel are now shown in red
AKAI APC40 mkII: added option to "scroll by pages" as default (making "scroll by one track" the option when holding SHIFT)
FIXES
Clip scaling actions (such as Scale 50% and Scale 200%) also scale the clip's loop bracket and start/stop markers
Event snapping in the audio editor is improved when snapping to event boundaries
Sustain pedal data is now properly imported from MIDI files
MIDI clock is no longer offset when pre-roll is in use
The note editor was sometimes unavailable after opening a project

[antic604]

I'd love to see some type of more detailed release note explaining exactly what is new or changed, so that we know exactly what to beta-test and provide feedback on.

https://www.bitwig.com/dl/49/t-win

Pretty humble update to be honest, but I'm personally excited about ability to prioritise and hide plugin formats (I hate when I see 4 instances of the same plugin: VST2/3 and 32/64-bit) and new key-bindable actions for the sequencer. Note FX Selector is a great thing as well, but the rest doesn't really interest me...

Wonder how much of a improvement OSX users will get?

[Yokai]

I'd love to see some type of more detailed release note explaining exactly what is new or changed, so that we know exactly what to beta-test and provide feedback on.

https://www.bitwig.com/dl/49/t-win

Pretty humble update to be honest, but I'm personally excited about ability to prioritise and hide plugin formats (I hate when I see 4 instances of the same plugin: VST2/3 and 32/64-bit) and new key-bindable actions for the sequencer. Note FX Selector is a great thing as well, but the rest doesn't really interest me...

Wonder how much of a improvement OSX users will get?

Thanks, Antic. Found them when I started downloading the beta. Posted them above for the next person with the same questions.

[kpv]

Congratulations Bitwig team!

[SB-SIX]

The new features are probably not the ones I'll be using much, but very happy with the improvements/fixes! Especially the mac performance updates, VST grouping and the midi clock offset fix on pre-roll!

[Yokai]

First time scan/indexing of your system is looooooonnnnngggggggg. Prepare to give it some time to complete.

[tor.helge.skei]

some awesome clip editing stuff in this update! thanks a lot!

[Enrize]

Audio slide

Yes, but i would change behaviour of modifier keys. I would prefer to quantize slide by default and free slide with SHIFT key. Anyone agree?

[SLiC]

That 'clip blocks' is really clever....did other DAWS do that or is it a new concept?

[Yokai]

Plugin load time when opening a project is noticeably faster than before!

You can find many of the new shortcut options for the arranger by searching "arrange". But I'd love to have a list of all other new shortcuts that might have been added.

And unfortunately, the right browser pane still doesn't remember the collapsed/focused state of the browser when you open/add new projects in the same Bitwig session. It would be nice the focus you set was "sticky" across all open projects for the entire session.

[Yokai]

The new "Analog Waves" multisample is like a master class example of the power of zone "groups" (coupled with the Select zone) in the Bitwig sampler. Wow. Until this point, I honestly hadn't grasped that you could cram more than 128 samples into a single multi-sample!